


Warm Nuka-Cola and Burning Rads

by Bearcina



Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Drabbles, Drinking, Drug Addiction, F/M, Gambling, I love robots, Indulgent, Other, Robot Kink, especially yes man, kinda author insert, kinda just a bit of everything, non chronological, rating may change as time goes on, tw for vomiting mentions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-22 20:43:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 8,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13174833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bearcina/pseuds/Bearcina
Summary: Just how Elisavet, "Courier Six" runs her independent Vegas with her faithful robot companion





	1. Meeting Him

Elisavet, also known as, "Courier Six" was a well behaved girl, up until she was given a daily canister of Jet. She had a problem, she was addicted, and she knew it. There was a whole basket of empty canisters she used to make Jet with- when she had the supplies. The Great Khans make some great Jet, but she liked it just a bit stronger than they dared to make it. It was a special blend, made from a recipe sold to her by some wanderer selling an old ghoul's recipe. It called for Sugar Bombs instead of this powdered sweetener.

She didn’t have a home or anything, having been forced to sell her Ultra-Jet to get into New Vegas to catch that asshole Benny. She changed in many favors from The King, and she lived in a supply closet in their building, finally off the streets and away from the Followers making their med-x. Elisavet was an honest member of The Kings, making chems for the street crawlers at the bar down the road, and running out and retrieving anything they could ever need on her bi-weekly runs into the wastes.  She brought back chems, clothes, food and plenty of crafting materials.

She was living the life, a worn out mattress and plenty of chems.

 

That's what she thought, anyway, until she entered New Vegas. She killed Benny in his own backyard, strangling him in his sleep, enjoying the way the life fled from his eyes as she choked him into the luxurious mattress. And then she heard _him._

"Hi there!"

 

She didn't know what to do, she stared wide-eyed into the open closet to the right of the bed, where she was straddling the corpse of Benny, hands tight around his lifeless neck. Elisavet stared right back at him, she looked at the glowing screen through the dark night of the room, earning the happy, lifeless smile he gave her. She thought he was just a Psycho-fueled daydream, and she crawled off of the body, tugging on the leather jacket she abandoned before the kill. Elisavet inched to the closet door, eyeing lifeless Benny the whole time, able to hear his mocking, "Well, the game was rigged from the start." ringing in her ears like a chiming of the broken church bells in the waste.

She ignored _him_ for a moment as she abandoned all care as she shoved the gun that had shot her into her bag, along with that checkered coat she loved, but oh so hated dearly. Benny didn't need it now. Tucked safely inside the pocket of the matching pants was the platinum chip she needed to deliver by dawn, as the western Securitron scolded her psycho induced form as nightfall.

 _He_ stood patiently outside of the doorway to the bedroom she was raiding. She whispered, her voice heavy with Psycho, coming out as a hearty growl, "Who, who are you?" The air was tense with silence, and she reached for the gun she just raided from Benny's nightstand, ready to aim it at the Securitron and fire rounds into the screen.

"I'm Yes Man," was all he said, and she was hooked from the beginning.


	2. Independent Vegas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Running an independent Vegas is hard, especially when your partner is still missing

"Hey, Yes Man, how about we go out to Freeside today?" Elisavet called from down the hall, pulling up her hair again, trying to cover up the bald spot around her bullet scar. "I still have some stuff piled up in my room with The Kings…" She sighed, the dusty mirror was hard to use. Of course she was in the penthouse, but she was in the makeshift room overlooking New Vegas and Freeside. She liked staying near her companion, and the view was amazing.   
Of course, she doesn't leave without Yes Man in tow, she felt guilty leaving him behind. Elisavet was attached to the Securitron, even if she doubted any of the passive-aggressive happiness held any truth. Yes Man's always cheerful demeanor and disguised disgust helped her deal with her stresses, and she let him know every time they go out with a simple, "Thanks." It wasn't much, but she thought it was plenty when she was staggering around after a shot of whiskey and one too many shots of Med-X coursing through her blood and he led her back home through Freeside and Vegas until she was passed out in her penthouse bed, under the watchful eye of security cameras.   
There was a few minutes between the question she asked and the reply from Yes Man. She waited and waited, but never got a response. "Yes Man?" She called, walking away from the mirror and into the surveillance room he inhabited. Elisavet pushed aside the team of Securitrons, all Mk.II, from the largest monitor.   
"Connection Lost…" The monitor mocked, giving away no hints as to where it's OS went.   
Elisavet nearly screamed, her skin paling in fright. He had never left her along like this before! She didn't want to be alone anymore, and the Securitrons had no guidance with her feeble learnings of a manual.   
Elisavet didn't know what to do, she paced in front of the monitor, her personal Securitron protection squad watched her the whole time, turning left and right as she paced. She searched her memories, hitting a road block with her amnesia. "Alright!" She yelled over the whirring and clicking of pre-war harddisks. "Time to go find Yes Man!" She stated, as if it wasn't obvious. "I need three of you to go down to the casino and search all of the rooms for his host body and bring it back!" She paused between sentences for breath. "Two more go down to the basement! And the rest scatter and search Freeside and New Vegas with me!" She yelled. She pared a glance to the monitor behind her as she jumped down from the platform. 

Elisavet grabbed up two of the robots by the claw, and drug them into the elevator with her, and went down to the first floor Casino. "You," She grabbed the attention of one, and continued, "Will go to the south side." She then inched over to the other, right pass the other, completely unafraid of the very deadly robot she was just pulling around. "And you," she addressed the other, speaking clearly, as it was the one with hearing issues, "Will go with me to Freeside." Elisavet smiled to the two, and waited for the doors to open from the robot waiting outside of the doors. "Now, let's search." She stated finally. 

Elisavet watched the other securitron wheel off with some of its buddies and go towards the southern side of New Vegas. She sighed, and took up the one she had with her by the claw, she had affectionately nicknamed it Rex a while ago, as it hated her favorite hat, shooting it off every time it had the chance.   
"Rex, let's check with the King, and see if he can get the Rocker's to help our search." She smiled, calling the Kings who wore the Jailhouse Rocker's by their outfit name. Rex led the way, pushing aside the gamblers gently, and then shooting off any hats that he saw. Elisavet smiled the whole way, having to jog the whole time to keep up with his brisk wheeling.


	3. Where Are We Going?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A walk sounds pretty good now.

The tune of Big Iron fluttered through the Penthouse of the Lucky 38, and the quick turning of dials and button-mashing made symphonic accents to the song. Elisavet laid on the floor, feet propped up on a stack of books she flicked through earlier, right under the watchful, blank stare of Yes Man doing various things to manage the financial side of Vegas. Yes Man was the brains, and Elisavet the brawn of the new independent New Vegas.   
If money was in the question, the Courier turned to her robotic companion, but if he ever needed someone taken out, Courier Six rose to the occasion with That Gun and a MIRV at the ready. Even though he was a deadly Securitron, Elisavet would risk life and limb for him; maybe she was a few tacos short of a fiesta, but she was absolutely enamored with the robot. Nothing was too much for her to do for him, even if it was to move a mountain. 

"Hey, Yes Man, how about we go out again today?" Elisavet called over her music. She found that the "assertive" personality upgrade was just a quick fix for him to say, "Hey, Elisavet, fuck off for a while." and say no in various colorful ways. 

"Well, I'm not too sure, I'm still banged up from that Deathclaw from last time." The securitron replied, his face stretching and flickering back into place after a long pause of, "connection lost." Yes Man was right, he hadn't been acting right and his chassis was still really banged up from the Deathclaw mother that they had had a run-in with two weeks ago.

"Right, right…" Elisavet sighed over the top of her copy of a Robobrain instruction manual dug up on the last trip. "How about we fix you up today?" She smiled, putting away the manual under her feet in the pile of other manuals and books. "It couldn't hurt for me to take a crack at it… Right?"

"I'm not so sure," Yes Man paused, obviously wary, "I mean, I don't doubt your skills but I wouldn't want to test it so soon!" his passive-aggressive 'no' was enough for her to pick back up the user manual and go back to reading through it. 

Maybe everything wasn't as smooth as Elisavet had hoped, but she still tried.   
"Please?" She asked again, brushing away her hair to get a good look at the monitor again. "I won't mess it up!" She whined, never been able to disassemble a Securitron, except with Dr. 0 in the Big Empty, and she was numbed up on a crazy concoction by Dr. 8 -- she could still taste the fizzing grape mentats washed away by the sweet flood of Hydra. "I've even done it before, I swear! I could take apart a different one and put him back together!" Elisavet whined, "Don't you trust me since we went to Hoover Dam together, Yes Man?"  
There was a tense silence after Elisavet's whining. 

"That walk sounds pretty nice right now! I'll meet you down in the Lobby!"


	4. Gambling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She gambled, she drank, he worried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for gambling and mentions of puking and drug addiction

Elisavet loved to gamble. She could win and win, and win. Her poison of choice was always Blackjack- she just couldn't resist those felted tables and the call of the well-worn cards. Of course, he hated it. He didn't like how she gambled away hundreds of caps in a drunken stupor, nor did he like the way she traded chems for the caps back.

She knew she had problems, but she never fixed them. She would gamble to Yes Man, she gambled with Swank, her life was a gamble every time she wandered near that deathclaw nest again.

Of course, gambling with Yes Man, she could never lose- al she had to do was ask for her caps back. She knew she played him like a fiddle every time she needed to gamble again, just another canister of Jet to keep it away.

Just one more, just one more, she always said.

Not again, not again, not again, he said.

 

Elisavet was thin, thinner than she should be. Her ribs showed, her once tight-fitting sneaky stealth suit hung in bags as she always said, "just a dose of Med-X," and made her even smaller. She puked on weekends, her body quivering with withdrawl- and she drank. She drank her cares away with Cass, and puked it back up in the morning.

Elisavet never saw the Followers for help, it was much cheaper on her wallet, and she would just be back where she was in a day's time by the suit. She loved her suit. Her suit sang her praises, and kept her pleasantly numb.

  
Yes Man was worried, he fed her candied sweets from the pre-war world, filled her canteen with sugary nuka-cola, and filled her dented plate every evening with mountains of reconstituted foods made from the strange sailent-green substance from the Big Empty.

"eat, eat, eat." He coaxed, standing by her side every meal.

"I can't eat anymore." She replied, her plate half empty, and three bottles of Sunset Sasparilla emptied on the ground. "Don't make me eat anymore." She begged, but he gave her another soda anyway.   
"You know, I just love how thin you are, but I would love it a lot more when I can't see all of your ribs!" He passive-aggressively coaxed, uncapping the bottle to reveal a star bottle cap. "How lovely! A beautiful blue starred bottle cap for your collection!"

 Elisavet gambled it away to him the next day.


	5. Following Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe it was time for help...

"How about we go for a walk?" Yes Man suggested, blipping in over the intercom in Elisavet's room. "I mean, we don’t have to go out; I just love staying inside all day!" Elisavet was weary and bedridden, sleeping hours and hours away, not eating or drinking much more than the sugary sodas forced down her throat by her companion.   
Her stealth suit hung draped over a chair- she could hear the, "Don't you love me?" the suit had asked as Yes Man peeled away the backing of the jumpsuit, disconnecting the wires that had fused into her metallic spine replacement. She laid in bed, rolling over in the somehow clean blankets, shivering. �"Maybe tomorrow.…" She sighed, postponing the inevitable. "How about another nap?" She yawned, lazily stretching on the silken bed again. There was a crackle of static again, and then the sound of the elevator a few minutes later. Maybe her "no" wasn't satisfying enough.   
She groaned as her bedroom door opened.   
"Now, Elisavet, no matter how much I just adore you staying inside all day, you need some sunlight!" huffed the robot, his screen bouncing and refocusing after a few seconds. Yes Man gave a sigh, turning on the suite's lights and tugging away Elisavet's blanket with as much gentleness a giant, murderous, dingy, blood stained and rusty robot could muster.  
Elisavet whined, reaching out for the blanket that had been robbed from her. "Give it back." She commanded, weakly reaching for the blanket.   
"I'll give it back to you as soon as you get out of your bed!" He smiled in return. Elisavet scooted to the edge of the bed, and then proceeded to roll off the bed with a hearty thud. There was a loud whine from her form on the floor, her ribs sticking out like a sore thumb against her chest wrap and tattered shorts.   
"I can't get up…" She murmured, her arms wobbling as she tried to sit up. With a whump, the blanket fell back on the bed. Static filled the air for a few minutes, Elisavet falling back down to the floor. She had spent a good month in her bed, and that hadn't accounted for the heavy Med-X and Jet concoctions tearing apart her muscles over the year since her accident.

With a sack filled with caps, and thirty Rad-X envelopes, Yes Man and a team of Securitrons wheeled down New Vegas with a blanket-clad figure being convoyed in the arms of her trusty friend down to the Old Mormon Fort. Onlookers stared, keeping a safe distance away from the rare sight- it was a very, very special occurrence that more than three was out at once, and even more rare that the New Vegas rulers were out in such a despair.   
Arcade Ganon, one of Elisavet's closest friends, stayed at the Fort with the Followers of the Apocalypse as a doctor. Yes Man knew that if he could at least get to Arcade, something could be done.   
Arcade didn’t really like doing what the others at the Fort done, much preferring to do more in the way of psychology, but on the road, he had done much to keep Elisavet alive when their small party left out into the wastes. But, he was sure, that the doctor would at least set up the connections to help their mutual friend if he couldn't, or wouldn't, do anything to help. 

Days and days went by as a crawl, Elisavet holed up in the Mormon fort with constant watch by doctors. Yes Man had spent thousands of caps to buy Fixer and pay the few Followers that were willing to help Elisavet get back on her feet. He had taken the time to empty out the chem supplies in her suite, and locked away anything he couldn't get rid of in the basement under watch. There were no signs of anything more than a lone stimpack sitting in her once full bedside table drawer.   
She came back a month later, leaning feebly against a cane, and barely clad in a doctor's jacket buttoned up to the top- had she no shame walking around New Vegas with her scars, tears and thin form showing for all to see? Maybe she didn't have a sense of decency after being poked and prodded in only her skivvies, which were now threadbare and bloodied. A thin line stretched diagonally across across her left shoulder down to her right hip, a pink and faded scar encompassed her thigh, a jagged tear down the back of her left leg, a clean curve along her hair part (which had stayed balded after the gunshot) that stretched across her forehead in a neat, clean line. Yet, she still wielded her trusty plasma gun on her side, which she was thankful that Yes Man had thought to bring to her. Maybe she could finally fix his chassis when she got back- or at least buff off the rust and clean away the blood.


	6. My Old World Blues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Valentines Day... Was it an Old World holiday?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UUgh this took four days to write and I know it's late af but enjoy

She was reading an old-world calendar hanging in the cashier's room of the Lucky 38's casino. She flicked through the calendar, looking through the images on the pages, mostly scantily-clad girls. Elisavet found them attractive, spending time eying the shapely girls, lusting over the lacy bras that weren't falling apart, and sighing over the lovely cream-colored stockings held up by another laced garter belt on her waist.

Elisavet flicked the page to February; gazing at another girl, this time with a polished motorcycle as her prop. She wore blue-jean shorts, red and white stockings, a white button-up tied up under her breasts, and a thin waist- but she looked healthy, not chem-addled and unnaturally thin.

February 14th, marked with hearts and little, "I love you, Deborah," in the calendar space it held. Elisavet didn't know a Deborah, nor anyone she could say that she truly loved.

Elisavet put the calendar back down, was Valentines day some sort of romantic holiday from the Old World? Is that why there were old red-ink pen hearts around the date? With a glance at her pip-boy, she confirmed the date after a moment: [2,190 Caps][February 14, xxxx][8:06:59 P.M.]. Elisavet sighed as she flicked the dials around for a moment, looking at all her misc. items, not thinking much about the date as the day wore to near midnight.

 

She retired to the Penthouse right before the clock ticked to midnight on February 14th, sitting down in an old office chair by the Lucky 38's resident AI, Yes Man. Elisavet sighed in relief as she leaned back into the chair, reclining enough to rest her feet up on a broken securitron she had been disassembling for the past few days. "Well, are you going to let me clean your chassis yet, Yes Man?" She hummed, smiling like a wild animal.

"Well, how about we wait just another day! Not like I've been avoiding letting your _expertise_ clean my _favorite_ chassis!"  Yes Man cheerfully replied as he flicked out of focus and back in again. Elisavet could tell that he was wary- after all, that chassis had been to the battle at Hoover Dam, all over the Mojave, and right back here where he belonged, with her. "I mean, as much as a gift like that on this Old World holiday would mean to a robot like me, I didn't get you anything in return! It would just be plain wrong!"

"Oh, you know I don't care for gifts! You don't owe me a cap, Yes Man! I should be doing all your work- on account of you saving my life again…" She blushed, brushing off the disguised praise. "Just let me go fix it up! I know that rust and blood can't be nice to wear around all the time!" Elisavet grinned, meandering over to the elevator. "Now, I'll be back in…. Two weeks, okay? Don't come after me- hold down the fort for me?" Elisavet asked, leaning down over the overlooking balcony, directly into the camera on the top of the monitor.

Maybe he wouldn't listen for once, and look through surveillance footage to find a hint as to anything that could mean value to her. And just maybe, he had a plan for this Old World holiday- spark up those Old World Blues with those old songs from Mr. New Vegas again, and just a nice gift.

 

Elisavet finished her work in two week's time, having left New Vegas entirely to run down to Novac to work in private. Getting the old chassis there was a trick itself without an AI to guide it, but taking it apart and putting it back together after a thorough cleaning, polish and paint job was the easy part. She carefully reloaded all of his missiles with specially painted ones from the Boomers- which took nearly a thousand caps to commission forty "hive" missiles to be built and  painted in fresh gray and red paint. Then, freshly minted 9mm ammunition was loaded with care, and the system recalibrated to handle the changes made.

Elisavet leaned back onto a full suitcase by the deconstructed Yes Man, proud of the work she had done. Rust flakes were all over the floor, gray paint staining the worn carpet, and drying blobs of lacquer littered the furniture and floor. She was proud.

 

[1,789 Caps][February 28, xxxx][11:21:42 P.M.]

The Lucky 38 opened its doors again. Elisavet walked through the casino to the elevator, pulling along a robot that looked brand new, just like an Old World machine shown in ruined posters and billboards. She took the elevator up to the Penthouse, and giggled as she gently guided along the robotic shell down the steps and to the monitor.

"Yes Man! I'm back!" she called as she pushed aside a curtain to the monitor room. The screen was blank with a "Connection Lost" message splashed haphazardly across the length of the monitor as if the host had suddenly left, or had been gone for too long. She left the chassis standing by the elevator, as she went down to her Presidential Suite. "Yes Man?" She called, turning on the lights to the unused suite.

Elisavet wandered through the suite to the master bedroom, which was still a bit of a mess since the last use. She made the bed, pulling up the silken sheets over recently straightened pillows. She left the room, and wandered through the suite's various rooms, and used the intercom to make a building-wide call for Yes Man. No response, again.

 

[2,569 Caps][March 7, xxxx][7:59:59 A.M.]

Yes Man hadn't returned in the week that had passed, and Elisavet was worried sick. Had he had gone looking for her in the wastes? No, he wouldn't leave without his favorite chassis, right? She didn't know what to do as she paced the monitor room, papers of messily done calculations were strewn about the floors, desks and bookshelves in the Penthouse. She couldn't run New Vegas alone- she didn't know how to do finances, or even live alone! She'd die without supervision, she's just that clumsy and stupid! Just come home, Yes Man!

 

[5,750 Caps][March 30, xxxx][11:59:02 P.M.]

Elisavet was lonely. She stared puppy-eyed at the monitor, folded up in her chair with a blanket, boxes of Fancy Lad Snack Cakes were strewn around her chair- she stopped trying to run New Vegas, and had just shut down into her old habits again. She wanted him to come home already, it was too lonely without him there… She finally understood why Mr. House had had sentient Securitrons with him. It was maddening to be alone, doing all the work to organize everything and keep the former tribes happy with their casinos, while simultaneously trying to make money and keep afloat to prevent NCR invasion.

Previously, Elisavet had been calculating each Casino's profit, recording all requests, and monitoring the roads herself through Securitrons. It was even more lonely as the hours passed, and she couldn't bring herself to stray from the Penthouse for more than a hour's time. She just wanted him to come home already… He couldn't have died outside of the Mojave, right?

 

[0002 Caps][January 1, xxxx][11:59:02 A.M.]

She started a journal. She wrote down her thoughts and feelings as each day passed. She done the minimum to run New Vegas on her own, leaning back on Swank to help her with pulling up the slack in calculating the finances. The casinos were happy, Vault 21 was happy, the Strip was happy, Elisavet wasn't happy.

Every weekend when Elisavet borrowed Swank from his own casino to come to her side in the Penthouse, he asked her every time, "Why don't you just give up on the robot?" And she never knew what to say, always turning to tears each time.

"I'm sure he's coming home, right now even." She would sob out in reply.

"Baby, that robot isn't going to be coming home." He would remark. "Why don't you come on home back to the Tops and we run this joint together?"

"Swank, I want to be here when he comes home."

"Alright then, baby doll. Let's get this show started then, you dig?"

 

[0000 Caps][February 2, xxxx][10:50:50 P.M.]

Elisavet waited, and waited. Everyday she checked the monitor, her heart breaking a little more each time she looked. She eventually went to the Tops, and stayed with Swank in the Presidential Suite there, too broken inside to stay away any longer. Elisavet had no feelings for him, too empty inside after her only friend had up and left her.

Elisavet had no caps, poor as dirt. She had gambled away her free savings into the Blackjack table, since Yes Man wasn't there to stop her from doing it. She didn't have to buy any food, liquor or chems, Swank and the Chairmen took care of her very well. She didn't even have to lift a finger, only handle basic finances and do all business through securitron convoy.

Swank would bring her anything she asked, obviously enamored with her. One day she asked, "Swank, would you bring me some Jet?" And she lost her control. Elisavet inhaled inhaler after inhaler as she prowled the casino, conning caps from gamblers in their drunken stupor for her to just gamble away to mask her feelings. Swank didn't care about her lost caps, or her addiction forming again. He would comfort her every night, hold her in his arms as he traced her scars. It was what a relationship in the Wasteland should be like, but Elisavet just found it wrong.

"I miss him…" She would sob, clinging to Swank every evening.

"Baby, he's not going to be coming home… I'm here for you now." He would reply, rubbing her back.

 

[0129 Caps][February 14, xxxx][12:02:01 A.M.]

Elisavet couldn't stay there any longer. She crawled out of Swank's arms as she pulled on her Stealth Suit, and packed her bags. She didn't leave a note as she took all the caps on his person, and snuck across the street back to the Lucky 38. Elisavet couldn't stand being at the Tops any longer. No amount of money, chems or luxury could keep her away from sitting by the monitor, waiting with the polished chassis that had once held her best friend.

Dark circles rimmed her eyes, dark against her deathly pale skin. She stared hopefully up at the monitor one last time… "Connection Lost…" It sighed back at her hopeful eyes.

"Won't you tell me anything? Where did he go?" Elisavet asked the monitor, but then dejectedly scanned the security screens. The door to the casino had opened, but it was too dark to see who, or what, had crawled into the casino. Elisavet jumped up and grabbed the nearest gun, and ran to the elevator, pressing her back to the wall beside it, waiting for whatever was coming up in the elevator to show up in the doors. She loaded the gun, and waited with bated breath.

The elevator dinged. The doors opened. Light spilled into the room from inside the elevator. She slowly exhaled as the figure slowly…. Wheeled out of the elevator.

Elisavet dropped her gun, it clanking to the ground. He was home… He was home.

"Yes Man?" She croaked, hopefully, taking a step forward.

"Oh! Hi there!" Came the cheerful reply, and she started sobbing. Elisavet fell to the ground, sobbing her artificial heart out. "I didn't mean to be gone for so long! I just got lost… Really lost!" Yes Man cheered, rubbing the side of his dinged-up replacement chassis with a bent claw. His screen flickered for a moment. "Are… are you okay?" He asked, setting down a large package on the ground.

"I thought you were gone forever!" Elisavet hiccupped, falling apart. "I couldn't do this alone, and, and…" She sobbed up at his screen. "I, I started on Jet again, and I lost all my money, and…"

Yes Man didn't respond for a long moment, picking Elisavet up off the ground. "I'm back now, and that's all that matters." He comforted her, awkwardly bumping down the stairs with her in his arms. "Have you even slept while I was away? I love those dark circles, but I'm sure your skin would be much better without them…" Came a sigh from his voice processor. Yes Man brought her down to the bed in the Penthouse, putting her down in a mess of pillows and blankets. "I'm not one to tell you what to do, since you are the ruler of New Vegas, but I'm sure it's in the best interest of the people for you to take a long rest."

"Would you be sure to lock the casino doors?" Elisavet asked, looking up from her blanket cocoon. "I don't want Swank to come looking."

"Of course! You make all the decisions!" He replied, smiling like always.

 

[0217 Caps][February 14, xxxx][1:52:39 P.M.]

Elisavet finally woke, rubbing her eyes as the midday sun streamed in through the windows. She got out of the bed, and searched her pockets for one more Jet container, but found them all gone, and a bottle of Fixer in its place. She smiled, playing with the cap of the bottle, and she chewed on one of the gel tablets inside.

"Yes Man?" Elisavet called, walking to the monitor, expecting the monitor to read "Connection Lost…" and the whole early morning to be a fever dream in her Jet-induced stupor.

"I'm in here!" Came the cheery response. "As much as I _enjoy_ letting you run New Vegas alone, I'd love it _so much more_ if I stay here with you, and help handle the finances!" Yes Man cheered back, his face splashed perfectly across the large monitor.

Elisavet smiled a pure smile. "I… I had you a gift." She stammered, shifting her balance as she shifted her look to the perfect and pristine chassis. "I cleaned up your chassis and, and I got you new hive missiles, new 9mm ammo, and I repainted it…" She pulled over the chassis. "I waited on you to get back to show it to you."

"It's perfect!" Yes Man smiled, "I'll switch over to it right now!" And the chassis blinked to life, Elisavet staring with hopeful eyes. He didn't respond for a few minutes, and Elisavet thought that she had messed up the vocal processor, or all the speakers.

"Did I do it right?" She tentatively asked, reaching for the claw of the robot. Static filled the air for a whisper of a moment, and then it cleared into a voice.

"It works perfectly!" Yes Man smiled back down at her. "I actually have a gift for you! It took a long, long time, but I think you're going to like it!" He left her in the Penthouse's monitor room, and fetched the large package he had brought in earlier in the day.

He brought back the parcel, and handed it over to Elisavet nervously. "It took a long time to find the right materials to make…" He murmured.

She opened the parcel, and pulled out blood red fabric. A very large, blanket-like scarf found itself wrapped around her neck as she pulled out a radiation-green robe. It reminded her of the robes that Jason Bright's followers had worn, but in the color of a Glowing One's blood after the head had been severed from its body, with dipped red hems that bled into the green. Under said robe, were a pair of smallclothes that had been made of lace. He had brought her a full outfit, and it had taken a year to make.

The robe looked like it was pieced together, and had been messily hand-stitched together like a quilt, then made into the robe itself. It was perfect. Even if all her old-world dresses were missing, and had probably gone into the making of this, she loved it all the same.

  
Yes Man was finally back home, and he had some Old World Blues to shake with her right by his side yet again.


	7. Rockets and Rads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She... has an obsession.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoops :^) Been seriously uninspired since my Valentines chapter  
> I have tons of plot ideas but no idea on how to write them out

Rockets, rockets, rockets! Elisavet loved those cute little rocket souvenirs. No matter where she was, she had at least one with her, or just as décor. At first, she had hidden them with Jason Bright and his followers, but then moved to Novac after they jumped into space. Now, she waited outside her little apartment with her securitron companion.

"I hope you don't mind carrying some of these to New Vegas with me…" she muttered, unlocking the door to reveal the many, many rockets displayed. "I really like these trinkets, if you can't see." She laughed, stepping through the doorway.

Elisavet carefully stepped about the room, trying not to knock over any of the rockets as she maneuvered her way to the back to pile them up in a suitcase. Her Geiger counter ticked crazily as she went deeper into the room, warning her against the wonderful little rocket statues oozing their radioactive green slime.

 

She had ditched her stealth suit, even with stunted emotions, she was thoroughly satisfied with her metallic heart and spine. She might not have a pulse, or feel pure joy anymore, but Elisavet was happy with her clean, chem-free life that she had been liberated to without the cruel suit on her back- and, just maybe, Yes Man was happy, too.

Elisavet owed her life to him, again. Yes Man's swift rescue mission had just saved her hide again- maybe the gunshot wouldn't kill her, or even her brain, heart and spine being replaced, but a year of chem usage would have. She won't even sleep in her suite anymore; she slept in the penthouse, in a bed overlooking the Strip, in the room just up the stairs to the left of his monitor- and coincidentally, under the gaze of security cameras and disabled protectrons. Elisavet wasn't going to risk her life anymore. She felt safer right by the only person that genuinely cared about her well-being.

And, right by her bed, was one of those devilish rockets. 


	8. That Goddamn Mailman.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Run away!   
> There's a deathclaw nest!   
> Oh, but what's this feeling? Why do I still stay with her...  
> Oh... We're in for it now...   
> She can't die here!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgot to post this when it was done;;;; Just enjoy some antics.

"Run, run, run!" Her arms were broken, her pack ditched somewhere behind. A Mother Deathclaw roaring and growling right behind her.   
Yes Man was equally screaming with a baby Deathclaw growling and clawing at the top of his chassis, he flailed his arms around, firing missiles wildly around trying to shake the little incarnation of death from his body.   
"Shoot it off! Shoot it off!" Came Yes Man's screech as it kicked a dent into the titanium right beside his monitor. With a stroke of luck, he fell and knocked the baby right off.   
There was one last loud roar, as the duo ducked into a nearby shack, shutting and barricading the door with crates and a metal bookshelf.   
Everything was unnaturally quiet, Elisavet breathing heavily as she collapsed against a rusty wall of the shelter. Her arms were broken in multiple places, with a few gashes trailing around her arms, her skin was pale and ghostly, and blood dripped from her useless arms- how she wish she was with Arcade.   
"Yes Man, oh tell me, tell me, you've got a stim, right?" Elisavet could hear her blood rushing in her ears, her mind swimming in fear and blood loss.   
"Even better! I have two!" His uncanny smile wavered in a cloudy emotion she had never heard from him before.   
"You'll have to help me, my arms are useless, can't move them an inch." she panted, finding it harder to breathe as she watched helplessly. "Hurry, hurry." She muttered, trembling against the wall. She was going to die here, she knew it. Elisavet cried, watching as her companion fumbled with the tiny health supplement. Just as she heard the hiss of the Stimpack, the pain had become too much, and everything flashed into black. 

She woke screaming in the night, panting and clawing herself in panic. "Yes Man!?" She yelled into the deep abyss of darkness. After a minute, a dimly lit screen appeared in the distance.   
A warbled voice broke through the tense silence. "Right here!"   
It felt like she didn't have any arms left, a burning sensation creeping over her freshly mended bones and tissue- she craved a shot of Med-X. Eisavet sighed in relief at the call of her companion who was wheeling over, and soon the back of the shack was illuminated in the dusty white light illuminating from his screen.   
"I'm not dead-?" Elisavet asked, groaning as she was helped off the ruined mattress on the floor, nearly screaming as his claws grazed the angry red scars all over her arms and back.   
"Of course not!" Came the genuinely happy response. "And I even had the time to retrieve our stuff while you were laying there!" She passed a sigh of relief, getting her favorite plasma defender shoved into her hands after getting dusted off.   
"How about we run on away from this nest?" Came yet another exasperated sigh from Yes Man.  
"I think that's the right choice right now," and as such, the duo ran as fast as they could away from the deathclaw nest and towards the nearest settlement.


	9. Noir Jazz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh... that crooning Noir Jazz on the Mysterious Broadcast was too calling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've a newfound respect for noir jazz, the mysterious broadcast has been playing as my writing music for days...

The Big Empty was filled with scientifical wonders, dreams only an old-world society could only dream of; with its cybernetic police dogs, flora and large rubies galore, and even a procedure that could replace a subjects own brain.   
Of course, Courier Six had no intentions of greeting the mountainless expanse of the Big MT- but she just couldn't resist the old jazzy tunes of the Mysterious Broadcast that leaked through the speakers of her Pip-Boy, luring her chem-induced form into a place she should have never seen.

Her brain- replaced by Tesla coils, her heart replaced with a cardiac regulator, and her spine was now pure metal. Elisavet had no idea of the perilous wonders she would have to endure to get her own brain back. Floating brains in robotic jars harassed her at every turn to retrieve devices to leave their own loop of coding errors- and all she wanted was her brain back.  
A Sonic Emitter charged with the shrill calibration of an Opera singer, the X-2 antenna weighing down her pack, and the sneaky suit injecting another dose of Med-X into the crook of her arm. Elisavet was ready to face the Think Tank, and Doctor Mobius.   
One, two, three, four, five, one by one down they went. Shrill noises penetrated the air with harsh, cutting pain. Static and otherworldly yells clamored in the dome, echoing, amplifying as they all reached the end of their roads.   
One, two, three… Brains splatting onto the floor and turning grey. Four, five, and now six… broken glass and electronics littered the ground, machinery slowly whirring to a stop. 

She had truly loved the Big Empty, and now it was hers, and only hers, no Mobius, no Think Tank, just herself and the warm, warm machinery humming and thrumming to their own beat. She wanted to bring Yes Man here, and just explore for days and days, camping out under the clear sky and enjoying the company of all the sentient robot friends she had made during her stay.   
Would he also enjoy the quiet sanctuary she had made? She wouldn't know. She still didn't want to leave yet. The lonely croon of the jazz from her pip-boy was oh-so warm to her lonely and hurt soul. She wasn't leaving yet.

Elisavet's return home was a sad one, she had to go back to her duties, Yes Man couldn't run it all forever. As soon as she shuffled out of the elevator in the Lucky 38 at her Penthouse home, she was met with a stressed and worried voice;  
"Where have you been? It's been so lonely without your lovely complaining every morning!"   
She shuffled to the monitor, where the voice had come from, giving an empty gaze up at him.   
"How long has it been?" She asked, her voice hoarse and wispy from disuse. Her face was hollow and pale, Med-X addiction apparent when she walked hunched over and holding a hollow space where her stomach would have been showing through the once fitting suit.   
A shocked blip and beep later, the custom securitron beside the monitor flared to life, the strained smiling face appearing up on the monitor.   
"You're so thin, not that, that, that's a bad thing…?" Came the response, he was really trying to be cheerful, but was overwhelmingly worried and his processor was tripping over words. One of the seemingly monumental hands came up, and he had done a sort of… worried facepalm that Elisavet would normally have done. "You didn't… get addicted again, right…?" He asked, pulling Elisavet upright, fixing her tired, slumpy posture.   
She coughed, and it shook her thin form like a leaf. "Not…. Not too bad…" A click and hiss resounded. She heard another praise, and held herself again, muttering on about how she wanted it to stop. Maybe that last fall had fried the logic to the suit. All it ever seemed to say was: Do you love me?  
Yes Man went to static for a long moment. He came back, this time with the smile gone.   
"Elisavet…" Came his sigh, picking her up with one swift motion. 

Time to detox again…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof  
> these updates are really sporadic, sorry... they come as they come to me.


	10. Don't Forget Your Rad-X

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is Mr. New Vegas here, telling you to remember your daily Rad-x.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm NOT DEAD!  
> Just busy with a project you see ;)  
> I'm publishing a book, that you can buy in the REAL WORLD!  
> If you like my free works, how about checking out what I've got in store...  
> Check out https://ninasoden.wordpress. com/2018/11/12/author-interview-bearcina/?fbclid=IwAR12gx4d4Ak5z-K6fe5Fv93SlfNe3aEmfk_U8Zso_9rcMc1zfAy7QwKGMgw for more details.

[5,098 Caps] [December 20, 2276] [11:20:47.40 P.M.]

The Mojave was cold, well for the Mojave anyway. Elisavet was tired as she strolled along The Strip, tucking her face into her long scarf. There had been a riot down by Vault 21, and she was called on to go investigate.   
Blood trickled down the dilapidated street, drunken spectators stumbled to the nearest gate back to Gamorrah to hole up for the night with a cheap prostitute and another bottle of whiskey.  
Looked like it was just another argument over payment of the stay in the hotel, and extra taxes. With another heavy sigh, she shooed away bystanders as she cleaned up the mess by hand, feeling a strange emotion as she rubbed her raw nose, a piece of skin flaking off. 

Cleanup took a while.

It was a rough five hours before she finally got home to the Penthouse with a heavy sigh. Her skin was itchy and she was plain tired. She took off her leather gloves and put them down on a little table, and discarded her scarf and jacket. Elisavet rubbed her raw nose again, and went to the mirror to fix up her appearance before going to whip up a quick dinner.  
She was silent. It looked as if she had scratched angry red pocs into her face, and lines appeared under her eyes. She rubbed her eyes and groaned, thinking it was just her being tired as she moved on to the kitchen to heat up some water for InstaMash.  
A lone camera warmed to life in the kitchen, and the intercom whirred to life, dribbling out a stream of static before a familiar voice greeted her.  
"Welcome back! I've already taken care of today and tomorrows finances! We have enough leftover to buy a weapon modification and a haircut!" He chimed, sarcastically joking about how it was a lot of money.   
Elisavet looked up into the camera lens with a heavy sigh, and went back to poking the dry potato flakes with a bent fork. She didn't feel much hungry, but she knew she had to eat, or else Yes Man would make her.  
Never had she hated the lumpy potato substitute more than now. 

The December chill was harsh, breaking through her leather every time she dared leave the Lucky 38's only heated room. Elisavet never liked the cold of the winter, her joints aching with every lock picked as she wiggled her way into a home to bunk for the night. Yet, since her stroke of luck with the kick to the heater she had found in a closet, she didn't sleep cold in her little alcove in the 38.   
However, that doesn't mean to say she enjoyed the sweltering Mojave summers- she enjoyed the early springtime, just warm enough to wear her favorite armor and not sweat through. It was also when she was most likely to find a banana yukka and be able to enjoy it. 

December turned into January, the cold melting away quicker than the rush of the strip. Everyday in the cold of December, she was counting losses daily to every business, running out of hard liquor when her robots couldn’t leave the confines of their sheds to distribute crates and crates of liquor. When people wanted liquor that no one had, it became hostile. When things were hostile, doors locked, and locked doors meant no money. Of course, some of the gambling rooms stayed open, but didn't see much use without the liquor to drive more people to gamble away their last cap.   
However, people had started giving Elisavet stares when she passed, dragging a sled full of liquor to the clubs. She rubbed her face and hands raw, or that’s what she thought. Pieces of skin not growing back over. Elisavet hadn't really sat down to look at herself in a mirror, or attempt to take a long enough bath to examine herself thoroughly. Her nose was the worst, it itching often enough that she had to stop wearing woolen gloves altogether- as to not make an abrasion so rough that it would start bleeding.   
She was losing weight, and it felt like she couldn't keep any excess fat over her muscles. Of course, Elisavet didn't look like a skeletal mass, she just didn't have her once-present curves.   
When she went to her latest liquor run, she was stopped by lady running the gift shop in Vault 21.  
"Oh, dear, are you feeling alright? You look like you got into a scrape with some nasty fellas outside the gates!" She had mournfully explained, pulling Elisavet off behind her desk as another happy worker in a Vault suit went to stow away what was brought in for the week. The woman, who couldn't have been older than Elisavet herself, reached up to her face and pulled the crimson colored scarf down to her neck. Hollow eyes greeted the woman, patchy skin across her cheeks, the poor skin across her lips peeling, and the tip of her nose almost nonexistent.   
Oh. Maybe it wasn't just the cold.  
The manager of the Vault was struck. "Oh, honey, do… do you need a doctor? Did you fall-? Oh… I've never seen anything like this before…" was all she could say, pushing Elisavet into her little office chair. "I… I think we need to go down to the Fort." The woman hurried to put on some gloves and a heavy set of clothes over her skintight wear. Her eyes were wide, brushing away Elisavet's dusty rose hair in absolute shock. "Is… Is it someone else doing this, honey? I sure hope not." 

Elisavet didn't enjoy her trip to the Fort, having one of the female doctors pulling her off to a private tent to look at her extensively. She felt exposed, the doctor rubbing some sort of salve on her arm where the skin hadn't grown over and started to turn into scarred tissue.   
"Looks like you've been playing in radiation, did you take any Rad-x or RadAway after your last adventure out to the wastes?"   
"No." Came Elisavet's simple reply, feeling ashamed that she had forgotten something that simple over the past few months she had spent in the Divide.   
"Well, it seems that you might be turning into a ghoul." 

[70 Caps] [January 4, 2278] [5:55:59 P.M.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy this chapter, I'll be comin right back soon with another one.


End file.
